Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

More About Mesothelioma Treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is located in the heart of New York City. The hospital has affiliations with Cornell University’s medical college and the New York Proton Center, a center offering the new proton radiation therapy to mesothelioma patients.

National Cancer Institute designated Memorial Sloan Kettering as an NCI-designated hospital. There are only a handful of cancer centers treating mesothelioma with this designation. Memorial Sloan Kettering has provided patient care for more than a century, making it one of the oldest cancer hospitals in the United States.

Memorial Sloan Kettering treats pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma cases. Dr. Marjorie Zauderer and Dr. Prasad Adusumilli are Co-Directors of the hospital’s Mesothelioma Program. They oversee the specialists involved in forming treatment plans for patients. One of the thoracic surgeons is Dr. Valerie Rusch, one of the most experienced pleural mesothelioma doctors in the world.

Memorial Sloan Kettering at Forefront of Innovation

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is one of the leading hospitals for malignant mesothelioma clinical trials. Just recently, the hospital has started studies using:

• Radiation therapy with the immunotherapy drug Keytruda
• Mesothelin-targeted CAR T-cell therapy with Keytruda
• Cancer vaccine combined with nivolumab
• Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and immunotherapy before surgery

The center has close to a dozen clinical trials currently recruiting for mesothelioma patients. Memorial Sloan Kettering was part of the multi-center trial looking into immunotherapy drugs Opdivo and Yervoy as a first-line option for unresectable cases. This study led to Opdivo and Yervoy being FDA-approved for mesothelioma.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has been ranked second on the U.S. News & World Report Hospitals Honor Roll list for two straight years.

Host of Groundbreaking CAR T-cell Therapy Study

Memorial Sloan Kettering is hosting an innovative clinical trial with CAR T-cell therapy, which is a type of cell and gene therapy for cancer. Scientists modify patients’ T cells in a laboratory to focus them on killing cancer cells expressing a specific protein.

For mesothelioma, the target protein for CAR T-cell therapy is usually mesothelin.

Memorial Sloan Kettering’s clinical study pairs the mesothelin-targeted CAR T-cell therapy with another immunotherapy, an immune checkpoint inhibitor. It’s a phase 1 trial with up to 30 spots for mesothelioma patients. The study is active and no longer recruiting patients, meaning it may have reached the limit for participants.

How to See a Doctor at Memorial Sloan Kettering

We can help you start the process of scheduling your first appointment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The first step is contacting a patient advocacy organization such as Mesothelioma Guide.

Nurse Karen Ritter is our lead patient advocate and helps people like you or your loved one contact hospitals. Email her at karen@mesotheliomaguide.com for tips on finding a cancer center. You can also request help through our cancer center form page.